Supreme Disappointment: Did SCOTUS Just Approve the Mafia's Model of Doing Business?

There isn't much to be said about Thursday's disappointing Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare that hasn't already been said. Less than one week away from celebrating our independence on the 4th of July, we have in essence lost our independence. Fittingly, the Obama campaign will be celebrating this treasured holiday with fundraisers in France, who must be delighted at our nouveau vogue socialism.

True, the Affordable Care Act is chock full of taxes. Give Chief Justice John Roberts bonus points for noticing - even though he failed the test. How do you allow the government to tax someone for simply existing? How do you tax someone for their choice to not enter into a contract to participate in an activity? It's as if a painter shows up at your house and you say, "I don't want my house painted." And the painter says, "okay, we don't have to paint your house, but you'll have to pay the tax for us not painting your house."

Did America just adopt the Mafia's model of doing business?! It certainly appears that way.

This is more than a slippery slope towards state-controlled behavior; it's a steep cliff to tyranny. The fundamental balance between the government and the people just shifted dramatically - and its not in the favor of freedom.

A few ways progressive liberals may choose to apply the "non-compliance tax" in the future:

HOME SCHOOLING: If you choose to educate your child at home, the government could impose a tax for not participating in public education (on top of the taxes you already pay that end up in public schools). After all, they are writing these global warming curriculums and building new God-free schools to indoctrinate good little citizens. Who are you to think you know better? 

PRE-K EDUCATION: Don't want to send your three or four year old to a government accredited pre-school? Fine, that's your choice as long as you don't mind paying the tax. But it's worth it, because you could never properly teach your child the values and skills they need at home - just ask Time Magazine.

NOT PARTICIPATING IN GREEN ENERGY: Don't have energy efficient appliances? Have yet to install new weatherstripping? Should they choose, the government can tax you now for not complying. Have you bought carbon offsets to make up for the amount of energy you use/waste? If you haven't and you aren't investing in solar panels (already subsidized by tax dollars), the government might impose a tax on you there, too. Do you have a thermostat that can be controlled by Al Gore's busybody bureaucrats from outside your home? Well then, I'm afraid we're going to have to tax you for non-compliance.

DRIVING A HYBRID: You don't have to buy a Chevy Volt or other money-sucking lemon called an electric car, but if you don't there could be a tax for that. Then when charging it in your garage starts to overload the electric grid, which will certainly be a taxable offense, the government can turn your "smart-energy" thermostat up to 84 degrees. Enjoy the summer because it's never been more enjoyable now that the government is looking out for you!

EXERCISE/DIET: Pandora's box is wide open. Every behavior you partake in is now being measured and controlled by the government to see how it affects health care costs, because let's face it, the government hates wasting money (sarcasm). They can tax literally everything they deem "unhealthy" - whether its activity or inactivity. So, for example, greasy foods and cheeseburgers get taxed. So does tobacco and alcohol - yes, even more than the current taxes. Don't exercise once a week or have a gym membership? The government can tax you for being a couch potato. And they can tax your TV, because TV leads to inactivity. Everything you do is now taxable under the guise of "protecting the common welfare."

Are these examples extreme or far fetched? Not at all. None of them will happen this year, but with tax-and-spend Democrats in control, it doesn't take a wild imagination to envision these type of taxes being implemented in the next decade. They reflect real policies that are the goals of lefty statists, which is pretty much ALL Democrats these days, and the Supreme Court did just allow health care tyranny to stand. The "Tax Door" to compel behavior favored by nanny-state do-gooders has just been flung wide open. There is no escape.

To quote C.S. Lewis, "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."


The Supreme Court had a chance to stop this oppression on Thursday, to draw a clear line in the sand protecting individual sovereignty from a government that has grown far beyond its use or purpose. Justice Roberts blinked (or acquiesced to the Chicago Way) and they blew it. Soon, we will far outpace Europe in government expansion. Liberals are thrilled, since they wanted to be Europe all along. And it will bring with it European-style taxes, regulations, and crushing debt.

This week Americans learned, sadly, that there is no judicial branch willing to hold overreaching government in check, and as such there is no U.S. Constitution serving as a firewall to protect the people from lying, deceitful, power hungry tyrants. Of course we should defeat these statists at the ballot box. But sometimes we don't, sometimes foolish electorates fall for hopey-dopey sleight of hand and elect lawless politicians. In response, the Supreme Court has said,"Go pound sand."

History will not write favorably of this day when economic liberty was crushed and the Pursuit of Happiness expressed in the Declaration of Independence was determined to only be a non-taxable, worthwhile pursuit if it was government-approved. Carry on then. Nothing to see here except a dying Republic.

10 Reasons to Vote for Donna Campbell: UPDATED FOR RUN-OFF

I am a conservative who has lived in the senate district for most of my life. I believe we need a state senator who better reflects our values and isn't beholden to big money lobbyists. Here are ten reasons why I'm supporting Dr. Donna Campbell in the Republican Primary for Texas Senate. If you support Donna, I encourage you to copy and paste these to your blog and Get Out the Vote!

1. Dr. Donna Campbell is NOT a career politician. While her opponent has spent the past three decades in government, Dr. Campbell has spent the past 20 years in the emergency room and will bring that type of critical thinking to solve our state's challenges.

2. Donna Campbell is Pro-Life. She is the only candidate in this race endorsed by three Pro-Life groups. Her opponent received an F from Texas Right to Life and has repeatedly favored abortion-on-demand, including voting AGAINST the sonogram bill and AGAINST requiring parental consent for minors seeking an abortion.

3. Donna Campbell is a constitutional conservative with an 'A' rating from the NRA. She will stand up for the first, second, and tenth amendment and against unconstitutional Washington D.C. power grabs. Her opponent once described himself as "a part-time constitutionalist."

4. Donna Campbell will fight for lower taxes and is the only candidate in this race who has signed a pledge NOT to raise taxes. She has also promised to reduce or eliminate the Margins Tax which penalizes Texas businesses. Her opponent voted for the Margins Tax and favors raising the gas tax to .50 cents per gallon and beyond (by tying it to inflation).

5. Donna Campbell will end the practice of taxpayer funded in-state tuition for illegal aliens.

6. Donna Campbell is the only anti-toll candidate in the race and the only Republican who has talked about auditing TxDOT so that taxdollars from Texas drivers actually go to fix our highways; not for trains and bike lanes. Jeff Wentworth voted to toll 281 and Loop 1604 as recently as June.

7. Dr. Donna Campbell is the only candidate with the medical qualifications to address ballooning health care costs and reform Medicaid, projected to eat up almost a third of the state's budget by 2030.

8. Donna Campbell received an A+ rating from the conservative Heritage Alliance. Incumbent Sen. Jeff Wentworth earned an 'F'.

9. Donna Campbell's donors are everyday citizens like you and me, while her opponent is funded by big money trial lawyers who have given money to Barack Obama. One group, TIR-PAC, has spent over $800,000 trying to buy this election for Jeff Wentworth.

10. Donna Campbell has run a positive, issues oriented campaign, as she promised. Jeff Wentworth broke his promise and has run negative attacks ads that even PolitiFact calls "ridiculous" and designates as "Pants on Fire" on their Truth-o-Meter.

On July 31st, I hope you will join me and other conservative neighbors who have endorsed Dr. Donna Campbell for her dedication to core conservative principles. If you are looking to vote your values, you won't find a better candidate. It has been an honor to volunteer for her campaign.

10 Things I Learned This Week: 4/23/2012

10. There's nothing the president can do about high gas prices, but he's the only one who can fix healthcare.
9.   Knowing whether cookies come from a local bakery or a store chain is a really BIG DEAL,  but naming the wrong islands geographically (by a good 4000 miles) in a presidential foreign policy speech isn't.
8.   That whole Lin-sanity thing was fun while it lasted, wasn't it?
7.   Earth Day barely got mentioned this year, although some lefties did celebrate by watching their Chevy Volts catch fire.
6.   Most hotel ice dispensers only have two settings: ice cube trickle of torture and disaster movie avalanche.
5.   I'm over The Killing on AMC. It's 42 minutes of suspenseful whispering and 3 minutes of heavy percussion music like something's about to happen. But it never does.
4.   Farmer's Insurance has the worst commercials on TV. It's not even close. And now they're pairing up with Marvel Comics? If that movie didn't blow, it does now.
3.   There are white Hispanics and non-white Hispanics. Does this also mean there are white blacks and non-white blacks? If so, President Obama is a white black as much as Zimmerman is a white Hispanic.
2.   Metta World Peace is about as peaceful as the Affordable Care Act is affordable. He should change his name to Metta World Least.
1.   "As The Eagle Flies" by Traffic is a vastly overlooked album. Dream Gerrard is one of Steve Winwood's greatest contributions to music. Go download it now.

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Buffett Rule

Of course it's phony. Does anyone expect this president to really demand that the millionaires and billionaires who show up at $40,000 per plate dinners to stop funding his campaign, accept the idea of attaining less wealth, and fork over more taxes with no expectation of a return on their investment?

Don't be silly. It's the same reason Warren Buffett is fighting his tax bill while claiming he doesn't pay his fair share - optics to make Big Government grifters seem like do-good, generous grandparents. In fact, everything you need to know about the "Buffett Rule" has already been covered in last year's post, Brother Obama's Wealthy Traveling Salvation Show. Since the administration's class warfare strategy doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon, it's worth rereading.

Never Let a Eucharist Go to Waste

Didn't ballerina and former chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel say something to that effect? Regardless, the president's Easter Egg Roll Festivities at the White House this year contained a lot of him, and as far as that other Messiah, well not so much. Okay, so they wanted a secular Easter Egg Roll. I don't have a problem with that per se. But when you branch off into yoga gardens, well, I think Easter at the White House has officially jumped the shark.

The theme of this year's festivities was "Let's Go, Let's Play, Let's Move," encouraging physical activity as part of Michelle Obama's war against obesity, which has literally led to an uptick in fat kids being bullied.

Eggs were decorated with images of Obama the Great, an idea he must have stolen from Kim Jong the Second. Oh, my bad. Not the eggs. The basketballs. Because who doesn't want to leave an Easter Egg hunt with a rubber souvenir of our new deity in tow? You can just imagine some eight year old growing up and hanging onto that basketball until one day he realizes, oh, that's what we went $5 trillion in the hole for. Rock me, Obamadeus!

This is what liberals do. Destroy traditional religious institutions that have proven their worth and replace them with false idols who have proven that they can only perform miracles with other people's money. And even then, they're left explaining failed stimulus bills, failed auto bailouts, failed economies, and mountains of debt.

Hat tip: The greatest coverage of this administration on the planet next to Mark Steyn, the excellent Pundit and Pundette.

Elizabeth Ames Jones's Failure to Stand Up for Texas

Elizabeth Ames Jones likes to brag about her success as Railroad Commissioner, but her record as an outspoken advocate fighting for Texas against the federal overreach of the Obama administration is overstated to say the least, a whisper few Texans have even noticed.

When the EPA threatened Texas jobs by suggesting strict carbon regulations, when the Obama administration issued a drilling moratorium in the Gulf, and even as the Keystone XL Pipeline (which some claim could boost the Texas economy by $2 billion) has been repeatedly rejected by President Obama, Commissioner Jones has either been the quietest spokesperson ever or just not that effective at championing state's rights.

While Governor Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, Senator John Cornyn, and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams have repeatedly made appearances at tea party rallies and openly criticized the Obama administration’s unconstitutional overreach, galvanizing conservatives and strengthening the cause for a stronger Texas, EAJ has mostly been MIA.

In fact, a google search of Elizabeth Ames Jones and “drilling moratorium” only produces 755 results.  That’s a pretty poor showing for one of the highest oil and gas officials in the state on a key issue affecting thousands of Texas jobs. By comparison, searching Greg Abbott and “drilling moratorium” produces 11,000 results and searching John Cornyn produces twice that amount or around 28,000.

Google “Railroad Commissioner” with “EPA” and you will be just as hard-pressed to find many stories about EAJ standing firm against Big Government. The majority of results instead mention Railroad Commissioners Barry Smitherman and Michael Williams, both more effective and vocal proponents than former commissioner Jones, despite her 7 year tenure.

Perhaps Jones has been too busy running for office recently to pay attention to the duties she was actually elected by taxpayers to do. She spent the better part of 2011 running for U.S. Senate, which was one of the few campaigns last year to rival the Chevy Volt for most underwhelming launch. Failing to gain traction in a crowded field and seeking to save her political career, EAJ shifted races at the last minute to Texas Senate, all the while collecting a government paycheck while she ran.

On February 13, 2012, Elizabeth Ames Jones reluctantly resigned from the Texas Railroad Commission to run full time for office without pay after her opponent, incumbent Sen. Jeff Wentworth, pointed out that she was in violation of the Texas Constitution for claiming two permanent residences. She has refused Senator Wentworth’s request to return $30,000 in “unqualified salary”, which he asserts she still owes Texas taxpayers.

One wonders why former commissioner Jones wouldn't stay put in a job that demands strong advocacy against Washington power grabs if that's really her priority in running. As a state senator, she will have fewer opportunities to do the poor job she's done vocalizing support for the tenth amendment.

Whatever you think of Elizabeth Ames Jones, her claim to be a strong vocal advocate for state’s rights who has tirelessly stood up against the Obama regime just doesn’t pass the test. It is, I’m afraid, mostly a myth of her campaign’s own creation.

In the interest of disclosure, I volunteered for Dr. Donna Campbell's campaign when she was narrowly defeated by Rep. Lloyd Doggett for U.S. Congress in 2010, and I am happy to support her again for Texas Senator. I encourage you to take a look at the candidate’s records in this race and the special interests groups backing them before making up your own mind.

The Contraception Mandate: Debbie Does D.C.

First, we were told to focus on the 99%, as evidenced by the people with "I am the 99%" painted in shoe polish on the windshields of their BMWs parked in the garages of their downtown lofts, where they snuggled up to watch Rachel Maddow on their 60" plasma TVs. If only Rachel's demographics looked anything like the 99%, she might have more than a fraction of the viewers. But there's a reason you don't see MSNBC piped into the TVs on display at Wal-Mart or Sears. MSNBC targets a much, much narrower audience who can afford to advocate for costlier energy, plastic bag bans, and $6 per gallon gas.

But the 99% is yesterday's news. Now, it's the 98% we are supposed to get worked up about, at least according to the Obama apologists who insist contraception is a right and its time for employers and insurers to provide it free of charge, nevermind your deeply held beliefs and religious freedom. Apparently, a survey of Catholic women commissioned by Planned Parenthood claims 98% of Catholic women who aren't trying to have children have used birth control at least once during their lifetimes.

What does this mean exactly? Well, apparently birth control use is common, so common in fact that 98% of the women polled had no problem gaining access to it. This is not news. Nor is it news that there are plenty of organizations and even government assistance to help the women who can't afford birth control. No, what's new is that the federal government under ObamaCare thinks that we should subsidize every women's birth control, regardless of how much she makes, even if she's in the top 1%. Nary a soul is begging to limit contraception, but this administration is so extreme they are willing to impose a mandate that tells nuns and priests who have sworn vows of celibacy to pay up for other's recreational sex.

As for feminists, well, this is hardly an empowering message. We are now supposed to believe that women don't have the capacity to be in charge of their decision-making when it comes to procreating, as if there's sex-crazed, feverish lasses wandering the streets (sadly not in my neighborhood) who need a Nanny State to control their urges for them. Wonderful. So now Debbie not only does Dallas, she does D.C. with the help of D.C.

It's hard to believe that in a little under 250 years we have traded our dearest liberties protected under the first amendment for simple, er, protection. We have ditched our freedom for the promise of freebies and quickies  - and hopefully lots of em. If only we didn't treat our rights as casually as we treated sex, we could have avoided this position in the first place. And other contorted, more compromising positions that are sure to follow as Democrats toss out the Constitution like a used prophylactic.

Meanwhile, the more easily and accessible birth control has become, the more women that are having children out of wedlock. We are now at a point where the majority of moms under 30 are single. And so the men really do come and go with no intention of getting any closer to a relationship or responsibility than the fifteen minutes they need to get their pants off, making traditional families a relic of the past.

America minus family. Minus God. Minus responsibility and morality. Who knew feminists were such cheap dates?

Oh Big Brother, Where Aren't Thou? ObamaCare Turns Two

This week marks two years since the passage of ObamaCare. According to Wikipedia, the suggested gift for second anniversaries is china. I guess we're all socialists now.

Let's do everything we can to make sure there isn't a third anniversary.